If there’s one thing I love it’s simple crafts that we can do at home. Oh and sometimes the less mess the better! This is a little something to keep the kiddos occupied for a little while and you can use all sorts of materials and pretty much anything you have lying around. Before I start, I always like to have an oil cloth down just so that any spillages of any material are easily cleaned up!

Crafts – An Owl Collage

What you’ll need:

Different coloured card/felt

Bostik Glu Dots

A couple of big gems

A pipe cleaner

What you’ll need to do:

Cut out triangles of varying sizes from the different coloured card and/or felt. You’ll also need to cut out two big circles for the eyes. Once this is done use the Bostik Glu Dots to stick a gem in the centre of the circle to make the eyes and then use more Glu Dots to stick these onto a plain piece of paper or card.

Once this is done, since you don’t have to wait for anything to dry (yippee!) use the triangles to create rows of feathers, again using the Bostik Glu Dots to stick these down. I got Toby to choose which triangles he’d like to use to create each row but don’t forget to save a couple for the owl’s ears though! As the body of the owl comes together use less triangles per row for the feathers.

Then all you need to do is cut a long pipe cleaner in half, fold each piece in half and splay each end out to look like bird’s feet! We popped a Glu Dot at the top and on each of the ‘toes’ to keep them down.

If you’ve got child friendly scissors at home, let the kids help you cut the shapes out. You could do circular feathers or square feathers, or a mix of everything! You could even use some actual feathers if you have them at home. Because the Glu Dots aren’t that messy, I also got Toby to help with these, and he loved peeling the plastic away! Either way, it’s a sensory experience for all involved and Toby really enjoyed seeing the end result.

Crafts – Seriously Simple Dragonflies

We also managed to make some really simple dragonflies, which would look really cute as part of a mobile, something hanging from the ceiling or they could be used for sensory/tuff spot scenarios.

What you’ll need:

Bostik Foam Pads

Coloured lollipop sticks

What you’ll need to do:

I literally can’t convey just how simple these lollipop dragonflies are. Take three coloured lollipop sticks and two Bostik Foam Pads. Now these can be a little fiddly because they’re so tiny, so they’re probably not great for little hands. Lay one lollipop stick down vertically and place a foam pad around 3-4cm down. Place a second lollipop stick, horizontally and slightly on the skew-whiff, across the top of the foam pad. Repeat this on the other side. And that’s literally it!

If you can’t find coloured lollipop sticks then thick coloured card will work just as well (you’ll need to cut out the shapes) or plain ones that the kids can colour in would be perfect. You can decorate these with whatever you like if you wish too. You can add eyes, feathers, glitter, shiny things, gems and whatever else your child can come up with from the materials you have. We made a little family of these and Toby and Teddy loved hearing about dragonflies.

They’re so cheap and easy to make and when the real dragonflies come out later this year you’ll be able to talk to your kids about them and I know Toby and Teddy will both be watching them with interest!